Landschaft offenen Auges - Open eyed land

Three combined together in this book: the Judean Desert in its passive eternity, Franz Wieler with his photographs, and myself with my words. This desert has existed from the days before time, from geology through archeology until history and until our time. It is reminiscent of the wanderers in its paths, those hiding from their enemies in its cracks, those isolating themselves in its caves, the fighters of Bar-Kochba at the time of their struggle the Bedouin over the generations, and the Palmach youth who patrolled in its ravines before the establishment of the State of Israel. Franz Wieler reached his old-new land as a mature person. He fell in love with the Judean Desert which is situated so close to Jerusalem and so far from the bustle of tourism there. And I, in the days of my youth, passed through it from time to time during days of war and days of peace. This book is a kind of book of memories for the three of us. December 1991 Yehuda Amichai